Neil and Grace Romance
by Perky004
Summary: Neil has to juggle his private affairs, can he support Jake while trying to ask Grace out
1. Chapter 1

The Bill-

_I do not own the bill or any of its characters._

"Don't worry Jake, Me and Liam will come and visit you from Spain soon darling" Pippa said while giving her son an affectionate hug.

Pippa's ex-husband DI Neil Manson watched the scene from behind Jake with disgust. It was around the time where Jake was most likely to have a relapse of leukaemia. He had been diagnosed 2 years ago and had been undergoing treatment ever since. It had now been found that the cancer cells had been destroyed. Neil could not believe that Pippa was going back to Spain when Jake most needed her support.

When Pippa finally let go she gave a curt nod to Neil, another wave to Jake and then turned around to board their plane. The only time she looked back was when she was about to enter the boarding area, she showed a smile and walked into the area. Jake didn't even shed a tear at the fact his mother had gone without him, though it was Jake's choice, he didn't want to go to Spain and leave his Dad who he had such a good relationship with.

"Come on mate, it's time to go, I have to go back to work, do you want me to drop you of at Aunt Lucie's? "

"No dad, I wanna come to work with you!" Jake told his dad.

Neil let out a small sigh, they weren't meant to bring their kids to work and his colleagues didn't know that Jake had leukaemia, well they would when they saw that Jake had only half of his hair on his head. Jake had had chemotherapy and had lost all of his hair. It had started growing back but there will still patches here and there. 'oh well' he thought, he'd rather have Jake happy than have a few awkward stares for the next few days.

"come on then Jakey" he said taking his eleven year old's hand. It felt so frail that Neil's heart broke. He took him out to the car and he let Jake choose a CD that he wanted playing. He chose someone called Black Eyed Peas. Neil had never heard of them before.

when they got to the station Neil took in a deep breath, he knew that no one would say anything while Jake was there but the moment he left Neil would be bombarded with questions or well wishers, he couldn't handle that right now but he had to do it for Jake.

" Dad, are you okay?" Jake asked his dad curiously.

"Yes Jake, I'm fine, don't worry about me" he smiled at his son.

He got out of the car and went round to the passengers side, he opened the door for his son while he grabbed his back pack, it was full of food and the medication he had to take, of course it had his teddy in it as well, he had got it from hid dad when he was only little.

Neil took his sons hand and took him into the station. Neil got out his warranty card and flashed it at the scanner. the doors up to CID came open. Jake smiled.

" Morning Neil" came a few voices as they walked down the hallway. They just reached the doors up to CID, Neil took a deep breath and pushed the doors open. Everyone in CID let out a gasp.

_i will try and do another chapter later today, please review!_


	2. Chapter 2

The Bill-

_I do not own the bill or any of its characters._

Neil looked down at his son to see his reaction. tears were welling up in Jake's eyes, he had met the detectives time and time before, and he liked them. he didnt expect this reaction from them. he let go of his dad's arm and ran into his office.

"right, well done you lot, he wanted to come in and see you and you lot treat him like that" Neil said curtly to his team.

"well you could have warned us sir.." mickey trailed of.

Neil just shook his head. he looked at grace to see her reaction, she seemed shocked and almost..upset. Neil couldn't work that one out. he pushed open his office door shut it softly behind him. he found Jake sobbing in the corner.

" Jake, i'm sorry, i didn't tell them about your...cancer" he said.

Jake crawled onto his Dad's lap, even though he was eleven years old, he was very emotional. they sat there like that for half an hour, Jake still sobbing, until Max walked into the room with news about the recent case. obviously he wasn't here when we walked in, Neil thought, as he saw max's shocked face.

" erm... sorry sir, i'll come back later" stuttered Max.

oOoOoOoO

"Jake was just sitting there crying on his lap, the DI looked upset, first time i've ever seen him show an emotion other that grumpiness" joked max.

"can't you just leave him alone for once, your not exactly Mr. Cheerful are you? "retorted Grace.

"you seem quite close with..." he was interrupted by the DI's office door opening. everyone returned to their desks, Jake went straight over to Stevie. She was the only one who hadn't reacted when he stepped through the door. everyone else went quite for a minute and then went back to work as if nothing had happened.

"you alright jake?" stevie asked.

"yeah, im fine..."

"come on lets go to the cafeteria and get something to eat" said Stevie, trying to cheer him up.

" yeah sure" he replied, he yanked his hood over his head, covering the bare patches.

"hey, there is no need to do that, if you're worried that much then you can borrow Max's Nike cap. Max looked up in silent protest. Stevie took no notice, grabbed the cap and ushered Jake out the door. Neil gave him an encouraging smile.

oOoOoOoO

Neil was at his desk filling out a form to say that Max and Mickey could have a warrant to search James Milligan's flat. though Neil wasn't thinking about the warrant at all, he wasn't even thinking about jake, he knew he would be fine. He was thinking about Grace, he was thinking about the betrayed and upset look she had had on her face, he couldn't help if she was upset about the fact he didn't tell her about Jake, he had found it hard enough to tell his mother! why didn't she understand? every time he would look at her he would have seen the worry and sympathy, he didn't want that.

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><p>please review<p> 


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